TimesLIVE reports that failure by the SA Police Service (SAPS) to timeously file a review application against a bargaining council’s decision that reinstated a fired police officer has led to the Labour Court dismissing the application.

The court said it did not have jurisdiction to hear the application because the explanation by the SAPS as to why it took nine weeks to make the decision to review the arbitrator’s award was not satisfactory. The Labour Relations Act (LRA) provides that any party who alleges a defect in arbitration proceedings may apply to the court for an order setting aside the award within six weeks of the date on which the award was served. Capt Peter Arthur Jacks, who was employed by SAPS since January 1991, was dismissed in July 2018 for misconduct relating to sexual harassment of a female captain. A month later, Jacks referred an unfair dismissal dispute to the safety and security sectoral bargaining council. In March 2021, the commissioner issued her award and found the dismissal of Jacks substantively unfair. She ordered SAPS to reinstate him retrospectively and that Jacks be afforded R356,379 in back pay. SAPS was unhappy with the commissioner’s decision and launched a review application. However, it filed its review application outside the six-week period allowed in the LRA.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ernest Mabuza at BusinessLive

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